Chinese automotive company XPeng has been making a major splash with its Terminator-like humanoid robot, dubbed Iron.
Footage of the company’s announcement showed the robot sauntering across the stage with an incredibly lifelike gait. The CEO even peeled it open to show there wasn’t a human inside — hijinx previously pulled by Elon Musk’s Tesla and Chinese company Ex-Robots.
Another design choice that drew the attention of online pundits online: the robot’s distinctly female anatomy, including pronounced breasts and hips — a notable outlier in a field dominated by hulking, broad-shouldered robots with masculine-coded names like Atlas or Optimus.
“Why does it need boobs yet no face?” one Reddit user asked. “These things are mega creepy.”
Was it an attempt to further female representation — or is the company trying to lure a very specific demographic by sexualizing its robot?
As it turns out, rumors that XPeng may eventually sell the robot as a high-tech intimate companion aren’t entirely unfounded.
“We can see that Iron can have different body shapes and sexes,” CEO Xiaopeng He said during his keynote speech on November 5, as quoted by Mashable. “I suspect that just like [when] you buy a car, you can choose different colors, exterior, interior.”
“You can choose a little bit fatter Iron, or, like me, a slimmer Iron,” he added. “Or you can customize your Iron based on your preferences. We also offer you the full coverage soft skin, so the robot is warmer and also more intimate…”
He also admitted that the company would likely be able to sell more robots that are “good looking” and “more intimate.”
According to He, robots will become “life partners” and should therefore act “more like [an] intelligent human.”
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